Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Off to Lawrence

Today was another day of procrastinating on the tax return, as I went with my daughter in law over to Lawrence, Kansas to deliver their Toyota pickup back to the dealer. When it was in for service the last time, the dealership somehow managed to break the exhaust manifold.

I know, how do you break the manifold? But they did, and then a new one couldn't be found all over the US. It had to come from Japan. I teased that we would have to irradiate the thing when it arrived, but I realize that that comment is in really pooooor taste.

But it was a nice day for a drive at noon time out in to the country here in Kansas. Of course, when we got to Lawrence, I headed straight for the local Wendy's for that $3 dollar meal special. And after we got the truck dropped off we kicked a few tires up in the new car display area as well.

The trouble with Toyota is that none of them can be towed!!! Or as my friend John Brown put it "they aren't lead broke." But my problem is that I can not fall in love with the Fords and Chevys that are towable. And don't even bring up Jeep. We got the CRV for now, but I really need to get rid of some of the excess vehicles around here, and the best way is to trade in two or three and buy only one.

I had ridden the motor scooter over to Melissa's house, and once we were back in Olathe, it was gorgeous outside and about 70 degrees. So I had a more leisurely ride back over here to our house. It was warm and the wind had finally died down from previous days.

Back here at home, I had to get back on the stick and work on that tax return, and it is far enough along now that I know I don't like the outcome. I still have the states to get started on, and they are done simultaneous with each other. That would be Missouri and Kansas. They have to be completed on an apportionment schedule where one is deductable on the other and the other deductable back on the first.

Missouri also requires that income be split between the husband and wife, so you have to look at each income source and decided if it is mine or Loyce's. A real pain. But it is me that has retirement from a Missouri based employer, and we don't need to apportion hers, as it make us pay more that way. So we go thru this exercise.

I was an accountant for years, and know how to do this stuff, but it is still inconvenient. Most accountants use tax preparation software and have staff members that type in the data to the computers. In most cases, they only interview the clients and then review the output of the computer software. And believe me, the computer doesn't always do it right either.

The next thing I knew it was time to watch the latest watch show, but I only ran it in the room while I read the blogs. The sound was turned way down, and I wasn't even tempted by anything they showed. HONEST!!!

3 comments:

Well Rod as you know we tow both a Jeep and Chevy, either one works fine for us, although I had to compromise a life long affinity for Ford pickups when I acquire that "lead broke" Chevy. But you could always just opt for a standard transmission in a Ferrari or that Mopar Super Bee you always wanted as a kid and tow them too.

I don't understand why you can't tow a Toyota. When I drove a uHaul with my mom's furniture from Sacramento to Springfield, VA, I towed her Toyota behind it. It was on a tow dolly, though, so the front wheels weren't on the ground.